B-52 Bomber Crashes

All eight people onboard were killed when a B-52 bomber crashed just outside of Edwards Air Force Base in California last week. Passengers included the servicemember crew as well as civilian government contractors. The plane went down in a remote desert area, and officials report that the investigation into the cause could last several months.

Analysis and eternal perspective: Life is short. On one hand, flying (or riding in) B-52 bombers carries with it fairly obvious risks. On the other hand, however, the aircraft has an impressive safety record spanning more than 70 years and is flown by some of the most highly-trained personnel in the world. Even so, an incident like this one reminds us that none of us is guaranteed tomorrow here on Earth (Pr. 27:1, Jam. 4:14).

Far from being cause for mourning, this reality frees you to “set your mind on things above” (Col. 3:2). It is a liberating act to relax your grip on things you cannot control in exchange for investing your time, treasure, and talent into those things which cannot be taken from you!

One way to bring this rather soaring intellectual concept down to a level of practical application is to commit your heart and time this week to intentional prayer for those grieving the loss of loved ones. Headline stories, including this one, point to bombers, unexplained crashes, and investigations, but at the heart of this story is eight families who are hurting. By standing in the gap of prayer for them, you are in fact also acknowledging your own frailty, which is in turn setting your eyes on your eternal home in heaven!